Directed by Stephen Burdman
The New York Classical Theatre
July 18 through August 7 at Castle Clinton
August 9 through 14 at Brooklyn Bridge Park
Friday to Wednesday at 7pm
Free and open to the public
Reviewed by Paulanne Simmons July 26, 2016

For many New Yorkers, the best part of summer is going
to the many free theatrical events the city has to offer. And one
of the best of these theatrical events is New York Classical Theatre’s
summer series of plays presented in various park locations around
the city. This summer is all about Shakespeare. The company’s
first show, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” closed
July 17, and its second production, “The Winter’s Tale”
runs from July 19 through Aug. 14.

What makes New York Classical Theatre special is the many innovative
ways it incorporates its surroundings into the production. This
means that shifts in time and space are often marked by moving the
stage to a new location. When this happens, one of the actors (often
without stepping out of role) invites the audience to move along
too.

This arrangement works particularly well for “The Winter’s
Tale” because not only does the play shift its setting from
Sicilia to Bohemia and back again, it also takes a huge 16-year
leap in time. These shifts give director Stephen Burdman ample opportunity
to use his ingenuity moving his actors around the venue: which will
be first Castle Clinton and Battery Park, then Brooklyn Bridge Park.

“The Winter’s Tale,” one of Shakespeare’s
last, was originally grouped among his comedies, despite its themes
of destructive jealousy and vicious marital and child abuse. But
if the opening scenes, in which Leontes, King of Sicilia (Brad Fraizerr)
becomes convinced his wife, Queen Hermione (Marin Lee), is having
an affair with his childhood friend Polixenes, the King of Bohemia
(David Heron), are dark and troubling, the second half of the play
lightens up considerably with the introduction of several comic
characters, including a rustic shephard (Warren Katz) and the pedlar,
Autolycus (Mark August), who doubles as a pickpocket and and bawdy
minstrel.

Fraizer does yeoman’s work carrying the emotional weight
of the play, as he moves from suspicion to rage to contrition. While
Katz and August provide the tale with robust comedy, and John Michalski
makes Camillo a believably wise counselor to both Leontes and Polixenes.

Despite some fine acting, this production never delivers its full
dramatic punch because the actors never address each other. Instead
they persist in delivering their lines to the audience, which makes
the play ressemble more a staged reading (minus the script) than
an actual dramatization.

Colorful costumes, an intriguing use of the Castle Clinton space
and the great outdoors go a long way to making this production a
summer event not to be missed, but unfortunately, this “Winter’s
Tale” never quite heats up.